Curtis, Charles

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Curtis, Charles, 1860–1936, Vice President of the United States (1929–33), b. near North Topeka, Kans. Of part Native American background, Curtis lived for three years on a Kaw reservation. After studying law with a Topeka attorney, he was admitted to the bar (1881) and entered Republican politics in Kansas. He served in the U.S. Congress (1892–1906), where he championed Native American rights to self-government with the Curtis Act (1898). He served in the U.S. Senate from 1907 to 1913 and from 1915 to 1929. He was a fiscal conservative and generally supported farm and veterans' benefits. After an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination, he became Herbert Hoover's running mate in 1928. Once elected, he played little part in the administration, but in 1932 he again ran with Hoover in his unsuccessful try for a second term.